


Fever Dreams

by NighttimeSabbatical



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Family, Gen, a hint of irony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 04:54:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13139496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NighttimeSabbatical/pseuds/NighttimeSabbatical
Summary: Elle is sick, and there's only one person Ludger can think of to help.





	Fever Dreams

It was a quiet evening. The smell of homemade chicken nuggets and fries baking in the oven drifted through the apartment, tingling Ludger's nose and making his stomach growl. He absentmindedly flipped through channels on the TV, not really wanting to watch anything but too bored to do anything else. They'd been waiting a full week for a new mission from Spirius, and it didn't seem like they were going to get one any time soon.

Elle sat at the table, colouring in a colouring book he'd gotten her, with Rollo dozing on the table by her side. He'd bought it for her after she'd complained of having nothing to do, but when he'd presented it—along with scented markers—to her, she'd scoffed and said that colouring books were for little kids.

Of course, after Ludger had finished preparation for supper left the food was cooking in the oven, he'd turned to see her studiously colouring, all complaints apparently forgotten. She still glared at him, daring him to say something, even though he hadn't been planning on it.

"It's freezing in here," she suddenly said. Ludger looked over to her; she'd abandoned her colouring, instead wrapping her arms around Rollo and pressing her cheek against the cat's plush fur. "What, are you too poor to even afford heating?"

Heating, in the middle of summer? "Have a blanket," he said, pulling one from the sofa.

Elle draped it around her shoulders. "Daddy's house is never this cold," she muttered.

"You'll warm up once we eat," Ludger said. She sniffed derisively.

The timer on the oven buzzed, and Ludger jumped to take their supper out. Elle had all but begged him to make chicken fingers, but when he set the plate before her she only stared at it glumly.

"You feeling okay?"

"M'fine," she said, pulling the blanket tighter around her. "Just a little tired."

"Why don't you sleep after we eat, then?"

" 'Kay."

He raised his eyebrows as he sat down across from her. Usually, she was angry whenever anyone suggested she go to bed earlier than sundown. Still, she'd been through a lot, lately. Maybe their adventuring was beginning to catch up with her.

They ate in silence. Elle was usually the chatty one, but now she only stared at her plate as she chewed.

"... Are you sure you're all right, Elle?"

She made no reply.

"Elle!"

"Huh?" She glanced up at him, looking dazed.

 _That's enough_ , he thought. He reached over the table and, disregarding her indignant squeak, pressed his hand against her forehead. Burning hot.

"Hey, I'm not sick!" She quickly stood up, grabbing her half-finished plate, but before she could take even two steps her legs wobbled and collapsed beneath her, and the plate clattered to the floor and broke. A startled Rollo screeched and hid under the coffee table.

Ludger was by Elle's side in an instant, picking her up and making sure she wasn't hurt. She leaned against his shoulder, groaning, her eyes half-lidded. "I didn't mean to."

"It's fine," he managed, only barely keeping the worry out of his voice. He walked her to the couch and lay her down, securing a pillow under her head. "You just rest here, all right? It's going to be okay."

She made no answer; she only wiggled fitfully under the blanket.

"What is it?"

" 'M too warm, Daddy."

Ludger stared at her, open-mouthed. _Daddy?_ "You're too warm? But just a second ago, you—" He reached for her hand, and it was ice cold. Clammy, too.

She claimed to be warm even though she was cold. If he kept the blanket on her, would she over-heat? But then, if he didn't, would she freeze instead?

"Tell me a bedtime story, Daddy," she murmured.

A doctor, that was what she needed. But the only doctor Ludger knew was Jude, and he was all the way in Rieze Maxia visiting his parents. It wasn't like Ludger had the money for any kind of doctor anyway, and—

In an instant he had his phone out. Before he could even consider what he was doing, he called the first number on speed-dial: Julius.

_Julius: calling ..._

He stared at the screen in horror, realizing what he'd done. What was he even thinking? He hadn't spoken to Julius in ages, not since Nia Khera. Every time Ludger had tried to call since then, Julius had never even answered. It would be best to just hang up and try someone else. But there _wasn't_ anyone else, was there? He—

"Hello?" Julius's voice. Ludger slowly brought the phone to his ear. "Ludger? You there?"

"Hi," he said.

"Yeah, hi," Julius said wryly. "Uh, how's it been? You doing okay after ... all that?"

"I'm okay," Ludger said. "You?"

"Fine, fine."

An awkward silence. Elle moaned, shivering, and suddenly Ludger came back to himself.

"Julius, Elle's sick. She has a crazy fever that's making her delirious—one minute she claimed to be cold and the next, hot, but her hand was freezing, and—"

Julius interrupted his rambling. "Does she have a welt on her neck?"

"What?"

"On the right side of her neck, is there a welt?"

With a murmured apology Ludger pulled the blanket away to check, but Elle apparently took no notice. Tthere it was—a deep red welt, at least two inches wide. Panic welled up in him as he brought the phone back to his ear. "She does."

"Then what she has is probably Velaxion Flu."

"Velaxion?" It sounded sort of familiar.

"You had it one time when you were a kid, don't you remember? But don't worry, I'm sure hers isn't a lethal case."

" _Lethal?_ " Ludger squawked. At Elle's incomprehensible murmuring, he made sure to moderate his tone in adding, "Thanks, Julius, that's such a relief."

"Hey, I'm just stating facts here," Julius said. "The way you know it's lethal is if she starts coughing up blood, and since you haven't mentioned that, I'm assuming she isn't."

"O-oh. Okay." Elle's eyes were closed, now, and she'd stopped murmuring—for the moment, at least. Ludger held on to her hand, though if it was more to comfort her or himself, he couldn't say.

"Yeah, you started coughing up blood, back when you had it all those years ago," Julius said musingly, almost as if to himself. "Had me worried sick. If I hadn't gotten you to the doctor in time, well ..."

"I don't remember that at all."

"You were maybe five, six at the time, so I guess it's not too surprising you wouldn't remember. You sure had a rough time of it, though. Murmured all through the night."

"What kind of things did I talk about?" Ludger asked.

Silence.

"... Julius?"

"Ahhh, just nonsense. You were a little kid—all little kids are like that."

Ludger had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he knew better than to press Julius for an answer he obviously didn't want to give. "Is there anything special I can do for her?"

"Have her drink lots of fluids—water's best—and just keep her comfortable. Open the window, too. It gets musty in there." He paused. "Honestly, she should be fine. Velaxion Flu, if it's not serious, is a quick one—tomorrow morning, even, she might be back to normal."

"I hope so," Ludger said. Elle appeared to be completely asleep, now; her breathing was a little laboured, but either than that, she looked normal.

"Anyway, I've gotta run. You be careful, all right? Don't get into trouble."

Ludger laughed. "Speak for yourself."

"I guess you're right about that." Julius paused again, this time so long that Ludger was nearly convinced he'd hung up before he spoke again. "Seriously, though. Watch your back. Spirius isn't all what it seems."

"I will," Ludger said. "You too."

The other line went dead. Ludger looked at his phone:

_Call ended._

"Ludger?" said a small, tremulous voice.

Ludger looked down. Elle's eyes were completely open, now. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Pretty bad," she said. "I'm sorry for being a burden."

"You don't need to apologize," he said, squeezing her hand. "I'm glad to help." Only eight years old, and she was feeling that kind of guilt. He couldn't even imagine what she'd already been through. "You should try to get some more sleep."

"O-okay." She curled up beneath the blanket and closed her eyes. "Please stay, at least until I fall asleep."

"Of course."

As he waited for her to fall asleep, he thought. He thought about her. He thought about the Land of Canaan. He thought about her father. She clearly loved her daddy a lot; he must've been a good dad. Ludger would sure like to meet him some day.

When he returned Elle, he would.

As he waited for her to sleep, Ludger rested his head against the sofa cushion, suddenly weary. And it was there that he and Elle woke in the morning.


End file.
